Memphis basketball is back at home for the first time since last month.
The Tigers (6-1) host Louisiana Tech (7-1) inside FedExForum Wednesday night (7 p.m., ESPN+). This will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two programs, and the first since since 2015-16. Memphis leads the series 2-1.
Penny Hardaway’s club—ranked No. 16 in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25—comes off a great performance in last week’s Maui Invitational, where it picked up two Quad 1 wins over No. 25 UConn (No. 2 at the time) and Michigan State. Wednesday’s game is a Quad 3 opportunity for the Tigers.
Here’s what to expect when Memphis takes on the Bulldogs.
Will Memphis’ lethal 3-point game continue?
The Tigers are on pace to be the best 3-point shooting team Hardaway’s ever had—maybe one of the best in school history too.
Memphis currently leads the country with a 46.9% clip from beyond the arc. Four of its starters (PJ Haggerty, Tyrese Hunter, Colby Rogers and Nick Jourdain) shoot 45.7% or better on 3-pointers. Neither starting center Moussa Cisse nor lead reserve Dain Dainja have attempted a 3-point shot this season.
Hunter, a 6-foot guard, is the reigning American Athletic Conference (AAC) Player of the Week after averaging 20 points on 58.3% perimeter shooting in the Maui Invitational. He also leads the team—barring walk-on Dink Yates, who’s only played three games—with a 52.4% mark for the year.
Haggerty, Memphis’ top scorer, shoots 43.5% from deep after hitting 28.9% of his tries at Tulsa last season. And that’s after he shot 1-for-6 in his first two games this year.
Memphis also notched a program-record 72% from the 3-point line in a win over Ohio on Nov. 15.
“It’s hard to explain, because we work so hard on shooting. Most of our practice is working on shooting. After practice, the guys work on their own shooting. At night, they come back [and] work on their shooting,” Hardaway said. “This is definitely a product of the hard work that we put in as a group and as individuals.”
The Tigers’ shooting prowess should be tested, however, when they face a Louisiana Tech defense holding its opponents to a measly 29.7% clip from 3-point range.
Can Memphis’ rebounding bounce back?
Memphis was outrebounded by all three of its opponents in Maui last week, but it didn’t really pay for that until the tournament final.
No. 1 Auburn squashed the Tigers on the boards 32-26 last Wednesday in route to a 90-76 victory. Bruce Pearl’s team also secured 11 offensive rebounds (10 in the first half), and turned those into 18 second-chance points. Forward Johni Broome dominated Memphis with 21 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 blocks.
Memphis currently ranks No. 190 in total rebounding percentage in college basketball. It also sits outside the top 200 in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage. Haggerty, a 6-foot-3 guard, leads the Tigers with 6.3 boards per game.
“We talk about rebounding all the time because we know what it’s going to come down to—protecting the ball and rebounding,” Hardaway said last week. “I’m going to always say that when you get in championship games, the ball can bounce any way. But you’ve got to be able to rebound and box out. We didn’t have that [mentality] last year. We get that mentality, then we’ll be champions instead of finishing runner-up.”
What Louisiana Tech brings to the table
Louisiana Tech is having a solid third season under head coach Talvin Hester.
The Bulldogs, who were picked first in the Conference USA preseason poll, are No. 90 in the NCAA NET rankings, No. 104 in KenPom and No. 109 in Bart Torvik. KenPom also ranks Louisiana Tech No. 100 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No. 116 in adjusted defensive efficiency. Hester’s team owns a Quad 4 loss to Southern.
Daniel Batcho, who hails from Paris, France, is Louisiana Tech’s leading scorer. The 6-foot-11 forward averages 20.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks on 73.7% shooting. Batcho dropped a season-high 38 points against Mississippi College on Nov. 18.
Amaree Abram is now at his third school after one-year stints with Ole Miss and Georgia Tech respectively. The 6-foot-4 guard puts up 14.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 steals per contest while shooting 44.2% from the field and 38.6% from 3-point range. Abram scored a season-low 6 points against Southern after recording at least 12 in each prior game this year.
Oklahoma transfer Kaden Cooper does a little bit of everything for the Bulldogs. The 6-foot-5 guard averages 11.9 points and 7.9 rebounds on 44.9% shooting. Cooper, a stout defender, also notches 2.6 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. He finished a Nov. 25 overtime victory over Southern Illinois with 18 points, 12 boards, 4 steals, 3 assists and 2 blocks.
Other players to watch for are 6-foot-1 guard Sean Newman Jr. (8.4 points and 8.8 assists), 6-foot-3 guard Al Green (9.1 points) and 6-foot-8 guard Devin Ree (6.3 points and 3.3 rebounds). Memphis might also see Haggerty’s former high school teammate Sean Elkinton, though the 6-foot-8 forward’s only played three games thus far.
The Prediction
Memphis wins comfortably.
The Tigers should have no issues here, provided that they show up. The Bulldogs’ best chance is an early surge, but their aspirations for a win are otherwise hopeless.
Expect Hardaway’s team to shake off the Auburn loss in a big way.